On The Air

16 March 2005
City Newspaper

by Chad Oliveiri

Anyone who’s read Jason Crane’s bio (www.jasoncrane.org) knows the former WGMC station manager is terminally restless. One of the only constants in Crane’s life has been his activism — from his stints as a labor union organizer, to his two years as chair of the Monroe County Green Party, to his 2003 bid for Rochester City Council.

And now Crane is heading back to the airwaves, activism in tow. The Jason Crane Show will air every Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m. on NewsTalk 950 WROC-AM. In Crane’s words:

“We’ll tackle the issues that other broadcast media don’t touch; we’ll talk with guests that other media outlets don’t talk to; and we’ll talk to some of the people you hear on mainstream broadcast outlets — but we’ll ask them better questions. The show will not deal exclusively with local news, but the overwhelming focus will be on local news, and on tying larger stories into the local scene.”

Sounds great to us. Crane’s inaugural program will include labor organizer Pat Domaratz and Cornell professor (and former City Newspaper staff writer) Joan Collins-Lambert dissecting the week’s news; Glenny Williams and Howard Eagle on the Rochester City School District’s school-closure plan; Susan Jacoby on her book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism; freelance writer Richard Zitrin on Rochester’s newspapers; and Andrew Stankevich on the success of the Friends Helping Friends food-distribution program.

And in the next few weeks, Crane promises guests like City Councilman Tim Mains, Police Chief Robert Duffy, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, organic farmer Elizabeth Henderson, and many others. Stay tuned.